{"nrhp_refnum":"80000547","name":"Clark University","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Clark University Campus","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.251088862000074,"lon":-71.82253077799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A university campus historic district in Worcester, Massachusetts, covering Clark University's pre-World War I core, including Clark Hall (1887), the Laboratory Building (1888), and the Academic Building (1901-1903) with its 1910 addition, plus later buildings and landscaped grounds.","why_significant":"Clark University was the second graduate school founded in the United States, funded by Jonas G. Clark and shaped by its first president, G. Stanley Hall. The district holds the buildings tied to their founding work, including the lab where Robert Goddard did early rocketry research. The Academic Building is also cited as one of Worcester's finest early examples of Collegiate Gothic architecture.","narrative":"Clark University's historic core in Worcester, Massachusetts, brings together the buildings of a graduate school opened in 1889 with gifts from Jonas G. Clark, a wealthy local businessman. The district centers on Clark Hall, a brick and granite building of 1887 with a clock tower, which Clark wanted to be adaptable to industry if the school failed. Nearby are the Laboratory Building of 1888, where Robert Goddard, later known for high-altitude and liquid-fuel rocketry, studied and worked, and the Collegiate Gothic Academic Building, built as the library in 1901-1903 and extended in 1910. The grounds include a landscaped plaza and a cast-iron fence set in granite posts. The boundaries emphasize the era of G. Stanley Hall, the first president, who led the school from 1889 to 1920 and invited Sigmund Freud to lecture in 1909. Later buildings, Atwood Hall and the Science Building, lie within the district but lack these early associations.","period_of_significance":"1887-1910","architect_builder":"Stephen Earle (Clark Hall, Laboratory Building); Frost, Briggs & Chamberlain, architects, and Norcross Brothers, builders (Academic Building and addition)","architectural_style":"Mixed Victorian; Collegiate Gothic (Academic Building)","criteria":[],"status_note":"In use by Clark University; condition described as excellent.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.215815-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/7934/63793427/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000547.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000547/8b17d75454-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000547/8b17d75454-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Namiba at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JonasClarkBuilding.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Namiba at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JonasClarkBuilding.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793427","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1095773"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/clark-university-80000547/"}